24 Percent of Small Businesses Don’t Use Social Media – At All

Sometimes, small businesses are quick to adopt new technology. Other times, they’re slow or hesitant or skeptical or too busy to even know it exists.

It’s that way with social media.

According to the Clutch 2017 Small Business Social Media Survey, 24 percent of small businesses have zero social media presence. That’s just about one in four small business owners.

A deeper dive into the Clutch data shows that less than half of all small businesses are actually using their social media presence on a consistent basis. Sure, a restaurant might have a Facebook page, but there’s a good chance its last post was the Wednesday night special in late July 2016.

Clutch found that only 41 percent of small businesses are on their social media sites multiple times a day. Another 23 percent are updating their social sites daily.

If a company isn’t active on social media on a consistent basis, its message will be lost. Followers are more likely to see posts and updates from companies and people who are more active on the site. A relatively dormant page is more likely to go unnoticed.

Based on this data, of the companies with a social presence, about one-third of them aren’t using social media enough.

If a company is inconsistently or sparsely posting about their business, the reach will be low even if the following is pretty high. If they’re using social media to respond to customers, they’re allowing their customers to wait too long by only visiting weekly, at best.

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Facebook Remains Important to Small Businesses

Ask a small business about their social media presence. Smart money says they’ll show you their Facebook page.

Of the 76 percent of small businesses with a social media presence, an overwhelming 90 percent are on Facebook.

Check out the other sites popular among small businesses:

It’s About Time

Despite the drawbacks and the amount of work it takes to do social media right, small businesses are missing an opportunity without a social media presence.

Very few small businesses can argue against a social media presence.

And Clutch agrees, this has to be the year your small business gets some sort of social media presence.

Facebook is probably best suited for local businesses. But online businesses may find Twitter or Instagram or even Pinterest — not mentioned in this study — to be even better avenues.

More than half of small businesses surveyed by Clutch use in-house staff to manage their social media sites. That’s probably a good start.

So if your small business still doesn’t have Facebook page, assign someone to get one set up as fast as possible. Arm them with a logo and some photos, and all the pertinent information about your business — hours, address, phone number, etc. Getting at least a Facebook page established is a big first step.

Second, establish a schedule for posts, create some posts and then work on expanding your audience.

If you’re one of the companies with a relatively dormant Facebook page, get in the habit of posting something to Facebook at certain points throughout the day. Make it a routine. Ninety-five percent of small businesses say they plan to put more into their Facebook efforts this year. But putting all your time and effort into one site is probably not the best strategy.

Expand Your Reach

For small businesses with an already established Facebook page, it may be time to look at another site or sites to expand your reach.

Small businesses told Clutch they plan to invest more in social media marketing this year. And they identified Twitter, Instagram and YouTube as the sites where they’re most likely to establish another presence.

Each site represents unique opportunities for small businesses. Instagram is owned by Facebook and is more photo driven. But if you’re looking to get out from under the Facebook brand, you may consider one of the others.

Twitter requires a refined message and delivery method. It’s ideal for some promotions but not others. For example, live events or contests work great on Twitter. However, your new menu items are probably best served virtually on Instagram.

With YouTube, the investment is greater. But if video marketing is your next step, this may be the way to go.

Joshua Sophy is the Assistant Editor for Small Business Trends and the Head of Content Partnerships. A journalist with 17 years of experience in traditional and online media, Joshua got his start in the newspaper business in Pennsylvania. His experience includes being a beat reporter covering daily news. He eventually founded his own local newspaper, the Pottsville Free Press, covering his hometown. Joshua supervises the day-to-day operations of Small Business Trends' busy editorial department including the editorial calendar and outgoing assignments.

7 Reactions

The question is why they are not using social media. Do they believe that their market is not there? It may be because they are targeting a market that cannot be found there but can be found in networks instead.

Aira, sometimes it’s a matter of small businesses not wanting their competitors to copy their social strategy. For the most part, strategies are out in the open on social media. That’s just the nature of it and there’s no getting around that fact. I think Facebook is a safe bet but SMB owners still should ideally visit customers’ FB walls, shoot the breeze, etc. On Facebook: engage, engage, engage. It’s the culture.

Hey Aira and Alex, I think you both make some valid points here. Allow me to offer another reason — they’re just too busy. If you think about the average home improvement contractor or some other type of one-person service business, they’re going from the crack of dawn until the time they hit the hay at night.

Chances are, these are the same small business owners who don’t even have a Facebook account.

This is not to suggest they shouldn’t have a Facebook page for their business. They really should. But do they really have the time to invest to do it right?

I think in some cases it’s because it’s hard work to build up likes and shares, especially at the starting point. There’s not much instant gratification, and the work that needs to go into it is time heavy.

Maybe the thousands of articles that makes it seem so easy to build up a presence makes the business owner feel as if they’re doing something wrong and they get frustrated.

It’s a complete mistake not to use social media for marketing and advertising! More then 2 BILLION people use social media!
It’s the biggest source of traffic accessible for anyone’s use!
Even if you use free traffic methods in social media, you still can attract many leaders and team members to your opportunity.
And a lot of the information is available for free online!
Great post my friend!

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